Method and system for setting quality of service for a bearer in response to an emergency event

ABSTRACT

An interoperability gateway performs a method for setting Quality of Service for a bearer in response to an emergency event. The method includes the interoperability gateway performing: receiving a indication of an emergency event for a first user, wherein the first user is operating a first device in a first network of a first network type; responsive to receiving the indication, determining a set of devices related to the first user, wherein the set of devices includes the first device and at least a second device operating in a second network of a second network type; instructing the second network to modify at least one Quality of Service setting for the second device.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The technical field relates generally to communication systems and moreparticularly to setting Quality of Service (QoS) for one or more bearersin response to an emergency.

BACKGROUND

During an emergency event, such as one involving a public safetyresponder, the responder can for instance push a button on their landmobile radio (LMR). This indicates an emergency condition to the LMRsystem and causes the LMR system to elevate priority for that device andto indicate the emergency condition to a console operator. Thus,existing technology enables an elevation of QoS for resources to the LMRdevice that reported the emergency condition.

However, in today's public safety environment, there are typically anumber of devices that are related to a particular public safety user,for instance one involved in an emergency event. For example, the publicsafety user can himself carry multiple devices such as the LMR radio andone or more broadband devices. In addition, other devices may be withinproximity of the responder involved in the emergency event or may sharethe same public safety agency as the responder involved in the emergencyevent. Moreover, one or more of the devices related to the responderinvolved in the emergency event may be connected to different accessnetworks using the same or different radio technologies. A shortcomingof today's technology is that there is currently no effective way to setQoS for one or more bearers allocated to at least two of the devicesdeemed to be related to the user involved in the emergency event.

Thus, there exists a need for a method and system for coordinating thesetting of QoS for one or more bearers for a set of communicationdevices related to a user, in response to an indication of an emergencyevent for the user.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The accompanying figures, where like reference numerals refer toidentical or functionally similar elements throughout the separateviews, which together with the detailed description below areincorporated in and form part of the specification and serve to furtherillustrate various embodiments of concepts that include the claimedinvention, and to explain various principles and advantages of thoseembodiments.

FIG. 1 is a system diagram of a communication system that implementssetting of QoS for a bearer in response to an emergency event, inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a signaling diagram illustrating setting of QoS for a bearerin response to an emergency event, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a system diagram of a communication system that implementssetting of QoS for a bearer in response to an emergency event, inaccordance with another embodiment.

Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures areillustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily beendrawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements inthe figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to helpimprove understanding of various embodiments. In addition, thedescription and drawings do not necessarily require the orderillustrated. It will be further appreciated that certain actions and/orsteps may be described or depicted in a particular order of occurrencewhile those skilled in the art will understand that such specificitywith respect to sequence is not actually required. Apparatus and methodcomponents have been represented where appropriate by conventionalsymbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that arepertinent to understanding the various embodiments so as not to obscurethe disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those ofordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.Thus, it will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity ofillustration, common and well-understood elements that are useful ornecessary in a commercially feasible embodiment may not be depicted inorder to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Generally speaking, pursuant to the various embodiments, aninteroperability gateway receives a indication of an emergency event fora first user, wherein the first user is operating a first device in afirst network of a first network type and responsive to receiving theindication, determines a set of devices related to the first user,wherein the set of devices includes the first device and a second deviceoperating in a second network of a second network type. Theinteroperability gateway further instructs the second network to modifyat least one Quality of Service setting for the second device. Thoseskilled in the art will realize that the above recognized advantages andother advantages described herein are merely illustrative and are notmeant to be a complete rendering of all of the advantages of the variousembodiments.

Referring now to the drawings, and in particular FIG. 1, a systemdiagram of a communication system that implements the setting of QoS fora bearer in response to an emergency event in accordance with someembodiments is shown and indicated generally at 100. The system 100includes: an interoperability Gateway 102 (for instance a combination ofpublic safety interoperability Gateway (PSIG) and QoS broker); anapplication 104 running on an infrastructure device (not shown); threenetworks including a network1 106, a network2 108, and a network3 110;and a plurality of communication devices 114, 116, and 118.

The networks 106, 108, and 110, are each characterized by a networktype, wherein the network type means the type of radio access technologyor, in other words, wireless access technology implemented to enable acommunication device to access the network. Networks 106, 108, and 110can all be of the same network type or a combination of differentnetwork types, for instance different types of cellular networks, 4Gnetworks, 3G networks, broadband networks, or narrowband networks.Illustratively, as shown in FIG. 1, network 106 is a narrowband network(e.g., and LMR or Project 25 network), network 108 is a broadband 3Gnetwork (e.g., an 802.11-based network), and network 110 is a broadband4G network (e.g., WiMAX or LTE).

Wireless networks 106, 108, and 110 include a number of infrastructuredevices for facilitating communications for wireless communicationdevices. Such infrastructure devices depend on the radio accesstechnology implemented by the network and may accordingly include, butare not limited to, bridges, switches, zone controllers, base stationcontrollers, repeaters, base radios, base stations, base transceiverstations, evolved NodeBs (eNodeBs), access points, routers or any othertype of infrastructure equipment interfacing a communication device in awireless environment.

Each network 106, 108, and 110 can span one or more logicaljurisdictions, wherein a jurisdiction is defined by a geographicboundary that includes one or more cells or as defined bygeo-coordinates or mapping coordinates, for instance. Each cell isserved by a base station, which in turn serves as a point of access forthe wireless devices to be allocated wireless resources. Each cellrepresents a geographic coverage area that provides the wirelessresources and/or wired resources, also termed herein as bearers, forcarrying data (or SDFs) for wireless devices connected to the radioaccess network. Each cell is defined as being inclusive of a single basestation's coverage area or a portion of a base station coverage area andcan be identified by a cell identifier.

As used herein, the term bearer or bearer resource is defined as atransmission path in a wireless network (such as a radio access network(RAN)) and is used to carry wireless device data traffic (also termed,herein, as communications or service data flows “SDFs”). A bearer isfurther defined as a set of network resources (wireless and/or over thewired network) that are allocated for delivery of traffic towards one ormore devices in a given network. A bearer can be bidirectional, i.e.,having both an uplink path from a wireless device to the application 104and a downlink path from the application 104 to the wireless device; ora bearer can be unidirectional, such as a common point-to-multipoint(PTM) downlink path from the application 104 to the wireless devices formulticast or broadcast traffic. A bearer can be point-to-point (PTP)(such as a dedicated bearer or a default bearer in an LTE networkassociated with a single device), or a PTM bearer (such as a multicastor broadcast bearer associated with one or more devices) and hasassociated therewith a set of characteristics or attributes including,but not limited to, QoS, a carrier frequency at which data is modulated,a particular bandwidth, bit rate, etc. A default bearer, as in an LTEnetwork, is defined as a non-GBR (guaranteed bit rate) bearer thatprovides for “best effort” SDF transmission and is allocated to awireless device for the duration of its attachment to the access networkand need not be explicitly requested. A dedicated bearer, as in an LTEnetwork, is defined as any additional bearer that is established for thesame wireless device and is specifically requested by (or on behalf of)a wireless device and can be either non-GBR or GBR.

A bearer can be characterized by a level of Quality of Service, which isinterchangeably, referred to herein as the Quality of Service for abearer. Quality of Service refers to resource reservation controlmechanisms and is defined as the ability to provide different priorityfor two or more different applications, users, or data flows, or toguarantee a certain level of performance to a data flow. For example,such control mechanisms can include, but are not limited to, one or acombination of: bearer allocation, retention and pre-emption, schedulingpriority for packets, level of performance of SDFs, admission priority,packet latency, packet loss rate, effective bandwidth, minimumbandwidth, maximum bandwidth, required bit rate, delay, jitter, packetdropping probability, and/or bit error rate may be guaranteed. Qualityof Service is defined and indicated by one or more parameters orattributes (such as Allocation and Retention Priority (ARP), QoS ClassIdentifier (QCI), Maximum Bit Rate (MBR), Guaranteed Bit Rate (GBR),etc., in an LTE system or a DSCP (differentiated services code point) ina 3G system).

In an illustrative embodiment implemented in an LTE system, QoS, andhence priority, is determined or quantized based on one or more QoSparameters included in a set (i.e., one or more) of policy rules (e.g.,Policy and Charging Control (PCC) rules) selected for the wirelessdevice, wherein the policy rules may include one or more of QoS rules orparameters, billing and charging rules, authorization rules or rulesabout which applications can be used, and which types of bearers may ormay not be established or are allowed to be established or allocated tothe wireless device in a jurisdiction. In one implementation, the QoSparameters (included in the policy rules for the wireless device)comprise any combination of the following EPS bearer parameters: QCI,ARP, GBR, and MBR. The QCI parameter controls bearer schedulingpriority. The ARP parameter controls bearer allocation and retentionpriority, and the GBR and MBR parameters control the bit rate of theSDF, e.g., guaranteed or maximum bit rate of the SDF, while sent overthe LTE system. Other possible QoS parameters include, but are notlimited to, per APN (access point node) Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate(APN-AMBR) and per UE (user equipment) Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate(UE-AMBR).

Turning back to the elements of system 100, the interoperability Gateway102 interfaces with the application 104 through an applicationprogramming interface (API). The interoperability Gateway 102 furtherinterfaces with the networks 106, 108, and 110. In operation, and inaccordance with the present teachings, the interoperability Gateway 102receives an indication of an emergency event for a user of a wirelessdevice in the system and applies a set of stored policy rules to modifyor set QoS for one or more bearers (across multiple networks) allocatedto a set of devices related to the user involved in the emergency event.As used herein, an emergency event means an event that requires, basedon a pre-established policy, an elevated QoS for one or moreapplications on the device.

Communication devices 114, 116, and 118 are also commonly referred to inthe art as mobile devices, access devices, access terminals, userequipment, mobile stations, mobile subscriber units, subscriber units,user devices, and the like. These communication devices can be any typeof communication device such as radios, mobile phones, mobile dataterminals, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), laptops, two-way radios,cell phones, etc. The communication devices send and receive media usingone or more applications in the communication devices. The media istransported over the access network 106, 108, or 110 to which thecommunication device is attached using one or more bearers allocated tothe wireless device. More particularly, upon attaching to anauthenticating with the access network 106, 108, and 110, one or morebearers is allocated for use of a wireless device by default (e.g., adefault bearer within an LTE system) or upon request (e.g., a dedicatedbearer within an LTE system).

The application 104 communicates with one or more applications in thecommunication devices 114, 116, and 118 over the, respective, accessnetwork to which the communication devices are attached or connectedusing the one or more allocated bearers. In an illustrativeimplementation, the application 104 is included in an infrastructuredevice operating in a public safety agency also referred to hereinsimply as an “agency”. For instance, the application 104 is included ina computer aided dispatch (CAD) system or a radio console.

In general, the wireless devices 114, 116, and 118 and theinfrastructure devices, such as the interoperability Gateway 102, theinfrastructure device housing the application 104 and the infrastructuredevices included in the wireless networks 106, 108, and 110 of system100 are implemented using one or more (although not shown) memorydevices, network interfaces, and processing devices that are operativelycoupled, and which when programmed form the means for these systemelements to implement their desired functionality, for example, asillustrated by reference to the methods and message sequence diagramsshown in FIGS. 1-3.

The network interfaces are used for passing signaling, also referred toherein as messaging, (e.g., messages, packets, datagrams, frames,superframes, and the like) between the elements of the system 100. Theimplementation of the network interface in any particular elementdepends on the particular type of network, i.e., wired and/or wireless,to which the element is connected. Where the network supports wirelesscommunications, the interfaces comprise elements including processing,modulating, and transceiver elements that are operable in accordancewith any one or more standard or proprietary wireless interfaces,wherein some of the functionality of the processing, modulating, andtransceiver elements may be performed by means of the processing devicethrough programmed logic such as software applications or firmwarestored on the memory device of the system element or through hardware.

The processing device utilized by the elements of system 100 may bepartially implemented in hardware and, thereby, programmed with softwareor firmware logic or code for performing functionality described byreference to FIGS. 1-3; and/or the processing device may be completelyimplemented in hardware, for example, as a state machine or ASIC(application specific integrated circuit). The memory implemented bythese system elements can include short-term and/or long-term storage ofvarious information needed for the functioning of the respectiveelements. The memory may further store the software or firmware forprogramming the processing device with the logic or code needed toperform its functionality.

We now turn to a detailed description of the functionality of the system100 elements in accordance with the teachings herein and by reference tothe remaining figures. Turning now to FIG. 2, a signaling diagramillustrating setting of QoS for a bearer in response to an emergencyevent, in accordance with an embodiment is shown. FIG. 2 shows twowireless devices 202 and 206, two wireless networks 204 and 208, and aninteroperability Gateway 210. In this embodiment, both wireless devices202 in 206 are operated by the same user, a user1. Illustratively shown,the wireless device 202 for the user1 is a narrowband LMR device, andthe wireless device 206 for the user1 is a broadband device. Furtherillustratively shown, the network 204 is an LMR network, and the network208 is an LTE network that includes an LTE evolved packet system (EPS),which comprises a radio access network (i.e., a EUTRAN) and an evolvedpacket core (EPC).

Prior to operating in accordance with the present teachings, theinteroperability Gateway is configured or programmed (212) with certaininformation to facilitate its functionality (through one or moreresponses) upon receiving an indication of an emergency event. In oneillustrative implementation, one or more agency administratorsconfigures the interoperability Gateway 210 through its API with policyrules to apply with regards to bearer QoS and/or applications running onone or more wireless devices, should an emergency be indicated for oneof the wireless devices. For example, the interoperability Gateway 210is configured with an identification of the “emergency” applications,supported by the wireless devices, which are to be launched (e.g.,in-vehicle camera) and provided with elevated QoS when an emergency isdeclared and an identification of the applications to be given adowngraded QoS or preempted altogether when an emergency is declared, isconfigured with the emergency QoS to apply to in-progress bearers, andis configured to create one or more new dedicated bearer's in responseto an emergency declaration (preemption will occur until these bearersare admitted).

More particularly, the interoperability Gateway 210 can be configured toset the QoS for an existing or newly established bearer in an LTE systemto support one or more “emergency applications” (meaning applicationsfor a wireless device with emergency or heightened alert status) for awireless device by performing one or more of the following: changingallocation and retention priority (ARP) of one or more bearers; changingthe pre-emption capable flag of one or more bearers; changing thepre-emption vulnerability flag of one or more bearers; changing thebearer(s) from best-effort to dedicated and vice-versa; changing theguaranteed bit-rate (GBR) and maximum bit-rate (MBR) for one or morebearers; changing the responder's access class; changing the QCI of oneor more bearers; or allowing some bearers but not others; allowing someapplications but not others; allocating additional bearers.

In one specific implementation, for LTE, the interoperability Gatewayobtains a dedicated bearer with emergency QoS (emergency ARP priority,pre-emption capability set to ‘true’ and pre-emption vulnerability setto ‘false’) or modifies an existing bearer to have emergency QoS. Theexact ARP, QCI, GBR, MBR are definable by the operator for emergencyQoS. The QoS architecture can be further configured to preempt asnecessary to insure the bearer allocation is successful.

For 3G systems, the exact configuration response is subject tonegotiation with the carrier. However, in one illustrativeimplementation packets are marked with and emergency DSCP value (in theouter-most packet encapsulation). The exact DSCP value for emergency isconfigurable by the agency operator and will be known to theinteroperability Gateway and wireless devices.

Turning back to method 200, at 214, the LMR device 202 for user1 isattached, registered and authenticated to the LMR network 204, and at216 the broadband device 206 for user1 is attached, registered andauthenticated to the LTE EPS 208. Two additional registrations are alsoperformed that allow an emergency to be triggered by any device on anynetwork and the interoperability gateway will know that in either case,the emergency is associated with the given user. In this illustrativeimplementation, broadband device 206 is registered to theinteroperability Gateway 210 so that it is associated with all otherdevices being operated by the user1 and so that the broadband device 206provides an indication (e.g., using a presence service) to theinteroperability Gateway 210 for the user1 should an emergency eventoccur and be triggered at the broadband device 206.

In addition, the LMR network 204 registers for emergency indicationoperation with the interoperability Gateway 210. This registrationenables an element of network 204 to provide an indication of anemergency event to the interoperability Gateway should one be triggeredby a device attached to the LMR network. This registration allows anemergency indication from one device on one network to be delivered toanother network and adjust the QoS for the other device on the secondnetwork. It should be noted that in a further embodiment, the broadbandnetwork can register with the interoperability gateway similar to theLMR network. Then an emergency indication on the broadband network isdelivered to the interoperability Gateway (by Presence service on thebroadband network as described).

At 222, the LMR device 202 (e.g., a first device) that is attached tothe LMR network 204 (e.g., a first network of a first type) signals anemergency indication to the LMR network 204. For example a responderprovides an emergency trigger to the LMR network 204 by pressing aphysical button or soft key on the responder's device. In an alternativearrangement, a device other than the LMR device 202 (e.g., the devicehousing the application 104) provides the indication of the emergencyevent for the user1 to the interoperability Gateway 210, e.g., via theAPI. Moreover, alternatively, the user1 can trigger the emergencyindication via his broadband device 206. To support the devices 202 or206 providing the emergency indication (which is communicated to theinteroperability Gateway 206 either via the access network or the API),at least one up link bearer may need to be allocated to the wirelessdevice to support this signaling of the emergency.

At 224, in this illustrative implementation, an emergency indicationtriggered or initiated by signaling 222 from the LMR device 202 (or fromthe application 104) is provided to the interoperability Gateway 210. Inresponse to the received indication of an emergency event for the user1(first user), the interoperability Gateway 210 determines (210) a set ofdevices related to the user 1, wherein the set of devices includes theLMR device 202 and at least one other device operating in a different(second) network (e.g., the LTE EPS 208) of a different type from thenetwork to which the LMR device 202 is attached. In this example, theset of devices related to user1 are all operated by user1. Accordingly,the interoperability Gateway 210 determines that the set includes LMRdevice 202 and broadband device 206 operated by user1.

At 228 and 230, the interoperability Gateway 210 instructs a networkelement (e.g., PDN Gateway) to set the QoS for at least one bearer forthe broadband device 206, using for instance messaging over and Rxinterface between the Gateway 210 to a PCRF, wherein the PCRFcommunicates with the PDD Gateway. Such instruction is based at least inpart on an analysis of the rules configured into the interoperabilityserver 210. Based on the results of this analysis, the network elementcan be instructed to modify the QoS for an existing bearer for thebroadband device 206 or to establish a bearer for the broadband device206 having to specify QoS to support one or more applications alreadyrunning on the broadband device 206 or to support an emergencyapplication initiated by the interoperability Gateway 210. Further inaccord with another embodiment, responsive to receiving the indicationof the emergency event, the interoperability Gateway 210 modifies anauthorization for the initiated application. More particularly, duringan emergency, some applications may not be authorized for use (i.e.,they are blocked from being launched), and when the emergency is ineffect, only certain applications should be launched. Thus in accordancewith one embodiment of the present disclosure, during an emergency, somedevices may be authorized to use applications that these devices are notnormally authorized to use.

The network element in the LTE EPS 208, at 232, set the QoS for thebearers as instructed by the interoperability Gateway 210. Theinteroperability Gateway 210 further notifies the broadband device 206of the emergency indication, e.g., using a presence notificationfeature, and may optionally initiate one or more emergency applicationsin the broadband device 206. In this case, since the LMR network 204 isregistered for emergency indication, it can proceed to set the QoS forbearers that support applications running on the LMR device 202.However, in an alternative implementation the interoperability Gateway210 could facilitate the setting of QoS for new or modifying of QoS forexisting bearers in all the networks to which the user1 devices areattached.

FIG. 1 further illustrates the implementation scenario where a set 112of devices related to a responder R1 involved in an emergency event areall devices operated by the responder. However, in another illustrativeimplementation, the set of devices related to a responder R1 involved inan emergency event includes at least two devices operated by differentusers. As illustrated in FIG. 3, a set 310 of devices comprises devices314 and 316 (both LMR devices), 318 (a mobile data terminal), and 312 (abroadband portable device) all operated by different users (respondersR1, R2, R3, and R4). Moreover, the devices span different types ofaccess networks 106, 108, 110 (narrowband and broadband) and may spanone or more jurisdictions.

In the embodiment, illustrated by reference to FIG. 3, the set ofdevices in this instance can be determined based on a number of factors.For instance determining the set of devices can include one or more of:determining a plurality of devices within a defined proximity of thefirst user, wherein the defined proximity comprises multiplejurisdictions; determining a plurality of devices assigned to the sameagency as the first user; or determining a plurality of devices assignedto the same incident as the first user. Location and incidentinformation received at the interoperability Gateway 102 can be used todetermine the set of devices in this scenario. As in the case where theset of devices are all operated by the same user, the interoperabilityGateway 102 determines how QoS should be set for the devices and the setand instructs their relative access networks.

Following are examples of responses that the interoperability Gateway102can implement in response to an indication of an emergency event for aresponder. Response 1: all devices associated with the responder receiveelevated QoS and dedicated access network resources. For example,activating the emergency button on an LMR radio causes dedicatedpriority of existing LTE bearers and creation of new LTE bearers for theresponder's matching broadband device(s). Also, the LMR device willreceive elevated QoS treatment. Some to all of the responder'sin-progress applications (per configuration) receive emergency QoS.Response 2: all members of the responder's LMR and Broadband groups aregiven elevated QoS and dedicated access network resources. For example,all members of the responder's LMR PTT (push-to-talk) group and theirmatching LMR and broadband devices are given elevated QoS and dedicatedaccess network resources. Response 3: all devices (human-based andautonomous) within a proximity (or number of cells) of the devicedeclaring the emergency receive elevated QoS and dedicated accessnetwork resources. The proximity can span one or moreagencies/jurisdictions. Response 4: all devices belonging to the sameagency as the device declaring the emergency receive elevated QoS anddedicated access network resources. Response 5: all devices associatedwith the same incident as the device declaring the emergency receiveelevated QoS and dedicated access network resources. Response 6: some toall applications associated one or more of the responder's device(s)receive a downgraded QoS.

Thus, in accordance with the teachings herein, an emergency declarationcan be made by one of the responder's devices or by a third party (suchas a CAD operator) or by a third party device or by one of theresponders. When a user has declared an emergency, all devicesassociated with the user (LMR and broadband) obtain elevated QoSresources. Also, variations of this disclosure allow other responders ina relationship (e.g. close by, part of the same agency, part of the samegroup, etc.) with the responder declaring the emergency to also receiveelevated QoS for their device(s). Existing bearers receive elevated QoS(e.g. elevated ARP priority and/or QCI values). New bearers areestablished per agency policy (to match the application(s) the agencydeems essential during an emergency).

In the foregoing specification, specific embodiments have beendescribed. However, one of ordinary skill in the art appreciates thatvarious modifications and changes can be made without departing from thescope of the invention as set forth in the claims below. Accordingly,the specification and figures are to be regarded in an illustrativerather than a restrictive sense, and all such modifications are intendedto be included within the scope of present teachings. The benefits,advantages, solutions to problems, and any element(s) that may cause anybenefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become more pronounced arenot to be construed as a critical, required, or essential features orelements of any or all the claims. The invention is defined solely bythe appended claims including any amendments made during the pendency ofthis application and all equivalents of those claims as issued.

Moreover in this document, relational terms such as first and second,top and bottom, and the like may be used solely to distinguish oneentity or action from another entity or action without necessarilyrequiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between suchentities or actions. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “has”,“having,” “includes”, “including,” “contains”, “containing” or any othervariation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, suchthat a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises, has,includes, contains a list of elements does not include only thoseelements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherentto such process, method, article, or apparatus. An element proceeded by“comprises . . . a”, “has . . . a”, “includes . . . a”, “contains . . .a” does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence ofadditional identical elements in the process, method, article, orapparatus that comprises, has, includes, contains the element. The terms“a” and “an” are defined as one or more unless explicitly statedotherwise herein. The terms “substantially”, “essentially”,“approximately”, “about” or any other version thereof, are defined asbeing close to as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, and inone non-limiting embodiment the term is defined to be within 10%, inanother embodiment within 5%, in another embodiment within 1% and inanother embodiment within 0.5%. The term “coupled” as used herein isdefined as connected, although not necessarily directly and notnecessarily mechanically. A device or structure that is “configured” ina certain way is configured in at least that way, but may also beconfigured in ways that are not listed.

It will be appreciated that some embodiments may be comprised of one ormore generic or specialized processors (or “processing devices”) such asmicroprocessors, digital signal processors, customized processors andfield programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and unique stored programinstructions (including both software and firmware) that control the oneor more processors to implement, in conjunction with certainnon-processor circuits, some, most, or all of the functions of themethod and apparatus for described herein. The non-processor circuitsmay include, but are not limited to, a radio receiver, a radiotransmitter, signal drivers, clock circuits, power source circuits, anduser input devices. As such, these functions may be interpreted as stepsof a method to perform the setting of QoS of one or more bearers inresponse to an emergency indication described herein. Alternatively,some or all functions could be implemented by a state machine that hasno stored program instructions, or in one or more application specificintegrated circuits (ASICs), in which each function or some combinationsof certain of the functions are implemented as custom logic. Of course,a combination of the two approaches could be used. Both the statemachine and ASIC are considered herein as a “processing device” forpurposes of the foregoing discussion and claim language.

Moreover, an embodiment can be implemented as a computer-readablestorage element or medium having computer readable code stored thereonfor programming a computer (e.g., comprising a processing device) toperform a method as described and claimed herein. Examples of suchcomputer-readable storage elements include, but are not limited to, ahard disk, a CD-ROM, an optical storage device, a magnetic storagedevice, a ROM (Read Only Memory), a PROM (Programmable Read OnlyMemory), an EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), an EEPROM(Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) and a Flashmemory. Further, it is expected that one of ordinary skill,notwithstanding possibly significant effort and many design choicesmotivated by, for example, available time, current technology, andeconomic considerations, when guided by the concepts and principlesdisclosed herein will be readily capable of generating such softwareinstructions and programs and ICs with minimal experimentation.

The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to allow the reader toquickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It issubmitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpretor limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in theforegoing Detailed Description, it can be seen that various features aregrouped together in various embodiments for the purpose of streamliningthe disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted asreflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require morefeatures than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as thefollowing claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than allfeatures of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus the following claims arehereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claimstanding on its own as a separately claimed subject matter.

We claim:
 1. A method of setting Quality of Service for a wireless widearea network (WAN) bearer in response to an emergency event, the methodcomprising: an interoperability gateway performing: receiving a signalfrom a first device, wherein the signal comprises an indication of anemergency event for a first user and wherein the first user is operatingthe first device in a first wireless WAN of a first network type;responsive to receiving the indication, determining a set of devicesrelated to the first user, wherein the set of devices includes the firstdevice and at least a second device operating in a second wireless WANof a second network type; instructing the second WAN to modify at leastone Quality of Service setting for a bearer belonging to the second WAN,wherein the bearer belonging to the second WAN is for use by the seconddevice for transport of content.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein thesecond wide area network is instructed to modify the Quality of Servicefor an existing bearer for the second device.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein the second wide area network is instructed to apply a Quality ofService setting for a bearer established for the second device.
 4. Themethod of claim 1 further comprising instructing the first wide areanetwork to modify the Quality of Service for an existing bearer for thefirst device.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first network typeis different from the second network type.
 6. The method of claim 1further comprising, responsive to receiving the indication of theemergency event, initiating an application for at least one of the firstdevice or the second device.
 7. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising, responsive to receiving the indication of the emergencyevent, modifying an authorization to allow the second device to use anapplication.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the set ofdevices comprises determining a plurality of devices operated by thefirst user.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the set ofdevices comprises determining at least one device, including the seconddevice, which is operated by a user other than the first user.
 10. Themethod of claim 1, wherein determining the set of devices comprisesdetermining a plurality of devices within a defined proximity of thefirst user.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the defined proximitycomprises multiple jurisdictions.
 12. The method of claim 1, whereindetermining the set of devices comprises determining a plurality ofdevices assigned to a same agency as the first user.
 13. The method ofclaim 1, wherein determining the set of devices comprises determining aplurality of devices assigned to a same incident as the first user. 14.The method of claim 1, wherein the indication of an emergency event isprovided by an entity other than the first device.
 15. The method ofclaim 1, wherein instructing the second network to set Quality ofService for at least one bearer for the second device comprisesinstructing the second wide area network to change at least one of:allocation and retention priority of a bearer currently allocated to thesecond device; a scheduling priority of a bearer currently allocated tothe second device; a level of performance of a service data flow fromthe second device; a user's access class; or a default bearer currentlyallocated to the second device to a dedicated bearer having a specifiedQuality of Service.
 16. The method of claim 1 further comprisinglowering the Quality of Service for an application running on a devicein the set of devices.
 17. A system for setting Quality of Service for awireless wide area network (WAN) bearer in response to an emergencyevent, the system comprising: an interface configured to connect to adevice to receive a signal from a first device, wherein the signalcomprises an indication of an emergency event for a first user andwherein the first user is operating the first device in a first wirelessWAN of a first network type; and a processing device couple to theinterface and configured to: responsive to receiving the indication,determine a set of devices related to the first user, wherein the set ofdevices includes the first device and at least a second device operatingin a second wireless WAN of a second network type; instruct the secondWAN to set Quality of Service for at least one bearer belonging to thesecond WAN, wherein the bearer belonging to the second WAN is for use bythe second device for transport of content.